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Challenge: Stillness (Standard Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Lens: Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
Location: Como, Italy
Date: Dec 16, 2022
Aperture: 11.0
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/25
Date Uploaded: Dec 16, 2022

 A fisherman peacefully waiting on a quiet morning out on the lake before it likely freezes over for the rest of the winter.

THANK YOU for my first ribbon! I first entered a contest on this site in 2004, so it's taken a good 18 years but I'm so grateful to finally update my profile with an image I'm really proud of.

For those curious, this isn't actually Lake Como, which is quite vast, and is instead a little lake called Lago di Piano which sits between Lake Como and Lake Ceresio in Lugano, Switzerland, and prehistorically (I believe during the last ice age) formed part of a larger body of water with the other two more famous lakes.

It's about 30 minutes drive from one lake, past this one, to the other and there are signs explaining the geological history on the way. Lago di Piano now forms part of a nature reserve where you can fish, walk and see some rare wildlife and birds.

Standard editing in Lightroom, adjustments to contrast, saturation and textures along with a vignette to focus the eye and bring down some of the brighter highlights at the edges.

EDIT - Reduced the vignette slightly and used a soft grad mask on the top of the frame to make it less obvious and more balanced. My soft grad filter is broken so this was the next best thing.

A successful morning on the lake today. I had intended to get up relatively early despite the snow to go and see if this little laghetto had frozen over, as it tends to do towards January and February.

In the end I was quite pleased it hadn't for two reasons, one because this fisherman provided the perfect focal point for the images (there was little fog on the lake, so my original ideas for the contests were adapted for him) and two because the reflections made everything look incredible and provided me with a lot more opportunity than if it had been frozen.

I have a lovely little anecdote from this shoot which I think is important and interesting for DPC members as we talk about attitudes to photography, technology and so on that I'll share here.

When we arrived specifically in this short window we had for me to get the photos, I switched on my camera to see the dreaded 'No Card Inserted' message. I'd forgotten to put it back in after yesterday's shoot for Liquid!

After an initial panic my wife reminded me that I could use her camera, tucked away in the same bag.

It was in fact my old camera, my 400d that I had picked up as a replacement for the original Fujifilm Finepix I used in all my previous DPC submissions back in 2004-2007, way back when I was just getting interested in photography and long before I would take a 15 year break from it.

I remember that in those days I dreamt of having a proper DSLR. The quality of submissions here at DPC with the Canon 300D and 10D were what inspired me to sign up and contribute in the first place, even though I had no idea what I was doing.

When I eventually moved to London and started working with cameras - TV cameras this time though - I finally picked up an 'old' 400D on eBay with the intention of finally having 'the right gear' to submit some great shots to DPC.

Well as you can see from my profile, that never happened. The camera, for whatever reason, sat in my cupboard for the best part of 13 years occasionally being brought out for a quick snap.

Fast forward to my current life, my business permitted me to rediscover photography out of necessity, and we picked up a 600D for the fact that it did video at 1080p which was the justification. My 'old' 400D became my wife's and my 600D became my main camera.

So today, after an initial moment of panic I 'had to' use the 400D for its intended purpose. And you know what? I'm so happy with the results. Yeah it lacks a live shooting mode and it's not quite as powerful as the 600D but it just made me think back to all those great DPCers from that 2004 era creating world-class content on a 300D and it seems absurd to think that a camera that is two generations more advanced than that would hold back my photography in some way.

It really isn't all about the gear eh?

Statistics
Place: 3 out of 29
Avg (all users): 6.9211
Avg (participants): 6.4444
Avg (non-participants): 7.3500
Views since voting: 511
Views during voting: 75
Votes: 38
Comments: 14
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 01/02/2023 09:17:22 PM
I loved your picture and didn't care for the centered fisherman - au contraire! Ho seems to be attracted, more like magnetized to this unknown, mysterious point. Brava!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/01/2023 11:22:05 AM
Forgot to vote on this one. This is such a gorgeous scene, but I don't think the center placement does this one justice, imo. There's such gorgeous leading lines in the snow on the hill and it's reflection -- even though it's not really leading to anything in particular, it still really wants to help the eye roam around the scene. But with the subject centered, it's as if the eye just stops it's journey. Here's the subject, no need to explore further. I'm not explaining it well, but I was trying to dig deeper as to why this one didn't hit me right, and that's what I discovered.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 08:59:26 PM
Positively sublime representation of the challenge. Beautiful image. Ribbon well earned. Congrats. I was one of your 7s. Nothing less than a 5, an across the board pleaser.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 02:35:24 PM
Lovely shot..Congratulations!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 12:38:26 PM
Gorgeous spot and beautifully captured.
Congratulations
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 12:18:07 PM
wonderful image for Como Lake. been there 3 years ago, its an amazing place. congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 11:59:30 AM
Welcome back, and congratulations on your first ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 08:07:24 AM
Originally posted by Rankles:
Originally posted by Neat:
Congratulations on your first ribbon with a lovely serene shot. It's funny on first view this reminded me of a similar shot I've taken at Lake Garda, which is close by.

So is this Lake Como? and if so how wonderful if you live there, was just talking about out adventures there yesterday.


Thank you! I'm so happy :.) So this isn't actually Lake Como, I've added details to the description above but it's a smaller lake a short drive from its more famous relative. Once upon a time the two lakes along with Lake Ceresio of Lugano formed one huge body of water before the last ice age.

I find a lot of inspiration at Lago di Piano as it's quite wild and has a lot of animals around. However I'm looking to do some shots of Lake Como in these days perhaps for the harbour challenge as there are a fair few to choose from!

Lake Garda is supposed to be quite similar and very nice, I'll have to make the trip over there some day!


Thanks for that i started reading your blog but it was way tooo long lol, so I stopped. But thanks for the heads up.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 05:55:31 AM
Congrats on the amazing restart after 15 years - first ribbon and a PB! I am sure many more will follow :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 04:23:34 AM
Originally posted by Neat:
Congratulations on your first ribbon with a lovely serene shot. It's funny on first view this reminded me of a similar shot I've taken at Lake Garda, which is close by.

So is this Lake Como? and if so how wonderful if you live there, was just talking about out adventures there yesterday.


Thank you! I'm so happy :.) So this isn't actually Lake Como, I've added details to the description above but it's a smaller lake a short drive from its more famous relative. Once upon a time the two lakes along with Lake Ceresio of Lugano formed one huge body of water before the last ice age.

I find a lot of inspiration at Lago di Piano as it's quite wild and has a lot of animals around. However I'm looking to do some shots of Lake Como in these days perhaps for the harbour challenge as there are a fair few to choose from!

Lake Garda is supposed to be quite similar and very nice, I'll have to make the trip over there some day!
 12/26/2022 12:20:00 AM
I love how the hill and its reflection look like giant jaws about to swallow up the oblivious fisherman.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/26/2022 12:09:31 AM
Congratulations on your first ribbon with a lovely serene shot. It's funny on first view this reminded me of a similar shot I've taken at Lake Garda, which is close by.

So is this Lake Como? and if so how wonderful if you live there, was just talking about out adventures there yesterday.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
12/21/2022 06:52:48 PM
Very nice!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2022 12:05:44 AM
i feel if i breath to deeply and exhale i'll disturb the tranquility . !! ..
this is stunning .. :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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